Magical Intentions

by Jaliza A. Burwell

  I pulled into the underground parking garage to my reserved parking spot by the elevator. There were two elevators, one for the first fifteen floors and the other one an express elevator to the top five floors. I knew the three others who owned the floors below mine. One was a female vampire who owned a series of clubs around the city. She had given me free access to her clubs, and her employees knew me at this point. The second was a witch who spent his days and nights at the hospital as a doctor. The last occupant was a male avian shifter who traveled a lot. I’d only seen him a couple of times. He looked to be middle-aged, but that didn’t really mean anything in this city where beings used glamor or could live to be a few hundred years. We even had an immortal or two in the city. Dwight Lombardi was immortal, or at least the rumors said he was.

  I went to the express elevator and tapped the lock with my key card before putting in the code to my floor. The elevator’s low-pitch beeping acknowledged that I was who I said I was. Without the key card, the code, and my aura signature, the elevator would never move. If we had visitors, they had to go through the front office, where they walked through a scanner to make sure no magic or glamour was being used and then checked in. I would look at the camera footage to verify their identity before sending the front desk a one-time use code to send the person to me.

  They took security crazy serious, which I loved all the more. I hated surprise visits. They reminded me of my unstable childhood.

  My condo had an open floor plan. When I got off the elevator, a small foyer led to my door. I unlocked it and stepped into the wide-open space, with high ceilings and dark wooden floors. Massive floor to ceiling magic-proofed windows gave me a breathtaking view of the city. One side was the living room, the other side my kitchen and dining area. I passed through it without pausing, going down a short hallway to my master bedroom. I stripped down quickly, making sure my clothes were in their appropriate baskets and wrapped myself in a robe. I had thirty minutes to get ready before Ami was knocking at my front door.

  As a repeat visitor, I had set her up with her own code, but she still had to go through the front door first, and her code changed each month. She didn’t have any complaints because it made it easier for her to come up. There had been a few late nights when she crashed at my place because of one drama or another with the beau of the month. She was just as bad as me when it came to relationships.

  We weren’t shy to admit we liked men. We liked different men, and the moment one of them voiced their opinion about our wandering eyes, we were done. They knew the deal at the beginning. We liked open relationships. We didn’t go out and have a series of one-night stands when dating someone. That was cheating. But if there was someone we were interested in while dating someone else, we made it known to both parties. Sometimes they were cool with it. Other times, not so much.

  I took a quick shower and used a little magic to dry my hair. I threw on a little black dress and was slipping on my heels when a knock sounded at the front door.

  “Leeet’s goooo,” Ami sang out, and I laughed as I opened the door to see her standing there was a big smile, her gray eyes bright thanks to her makeup, and the light blue dress she wore popping a little against her tanned skin.

  Despite being one of the meatheads, and strong, she wasn’t butch. She knew how to make herself look tough, but she also knew how to make herself feminine. She was gorgeous, and the gleam in her eyes told me she was on the prowl. Maybe tonight she’d be the one to leave me behind to hook up with someone else. Then she couldn’t say shit anymore about me doing that to her last month.

  We’d only known each other since I started working at Biomystic, but we’d clicked instantly and became fast best friends. I didn’t do friends, but Ami ignored my rule and pushed herself into my life. We also understood the long hours at work and didn’t get pissy just because we had to cancel plans.

  “Let’s bounce,” she said, yanking me out the door, barely giving me time to grab my purse.

  Before I knew it, we were standing in front of a club outside of the business district. I took a deep breath, smelling the river that roared a couple of blocks away. The warm wind blew it toward us, and I smiled. Moments like this made me love the city even more.

  Ami batted her eyes at the bouncer, and he smirked as he let us through, despite the ridiculously long line. We pushed inside, making it through the entrance. The volume of the dull music quickly grew as we made our way down a short hallway. The moment we stepped through the doorway and past the noise control barrier, my senses were assaulted by the floor-quaking music, the smell of excitement and sweat, and the heat of all the bodies packed onto the dance floor.

  Magic and energy slammed into me, giving me a nice high of excitement. I didn’t wait, grabbing Ami and dragging her onto the dance floor. With all the energy and magic in the air, I didn’t even need a drink yet. My body pulled the magic to me, the energy lit up the nerves on my skin, and I got lost in the pulsing sensation around me.

  On our feet the entire time, the night quickly passed as we danced together and sometimes with someone else.

  Ami managed to find a man to make out with, but then she came back to me, determined not to abandon me tonight. How was I supposed to have something to hold over her if she wouldn’t leave with someone else? I figured she was on to my plan.

  The drinks were freely given to us by others after our attention. An added kick of magic gave it a little something extra to make sure we stayed tipsy and had a good night. When we left, Ami made sure to call a taxi service to bring us home. She would have to pick up her car in the morning, but she never minded.

  We giggled the whole way as we talked about the night and the different beings we’d met. I had fun with a shifter for a good part of the night, but he left once he realized I wasn’t going to go home with him. I didn’t mind. Ami had made out with the mage who’d bought most of our drinks.

  “I’m staying with you,” she slurred, and I just shrugged.

  We stumbled our way through the front of my building and to the elevators. The front desk security man just chuckled and shook his head as Ami sent him a wink.

  The moment we made it to my condo Ami passed out on the couch. I at least made it to my room and got my shoes off before I passed out on my bed.

  Chapter 4

  I woke to the smell of tea. My senses slowly came alive, and I listened to the rare clanking in my kitchen. Not many stayed in my apartment, so it had to be Ami moving around. I rolled onto my stomach and glanced at my phone, noting a voicemail and a couple of text messages. I ignored them and got up to go through my normal morning routine.

  By the time I came out of the bathroom feeling normal, Ami had managed to cook an entire breakfast for us. Eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, waffles, and toast.

  “Mm,” I said, eyeing everything. “Ami’s classic breakfast. I knew there was a reason I kept you around.”

  She laughed as she grabbed a plate and piled it high with food. I did the same, and we went over to the table to eat.

  “I hate to stay the night and then bounce, but an assignment came in this morning, and they need me.”

  I rolled my eyes as I swallowed the delicious eggs with a hint of garlic. “Have fun. I’ll clean everything up.”

  She smirked as she slowly became the hardassed meathead Ami I first met. “Definitely.”

  A few minutes later, she was out the door, and I slowly finished eating, enjoying each bite. Ami’s many talents included cooking quality food. I would probably starve if she didn’t cook for me every once in a while. I didn’t eat often as it was, my body only needing a meal once a day. I never understood why my appetite barely existed, but that was how it was as long as I could remember. This breakfast would keep me going well into the next day.

  Clean up didn’t take long. She’d already washed all the cookware. I just needed to put away the leftover food and clean up a couple dishes.

  Afterward, I headed to work. Even though it was the weekend and I
didn’t need to go in, I liked to use the time to reorganize and to take a look at all my projects.

  Instead of taking my truck, the weather was nice enough to walk. Despite being a twenty-minute drive from home to work, it didn’t take much longer to walk. Driving, I had to go around a large park. Walking, I could cut through and save a lot of time. Plus, less traffic to deal with.

  The second most preferred method of transportation were bikes, at least for those who couldn’t fly or transport themselves with just a thought.

  I tugged on a light jacket and doubled checked to make sure I had everything. Everything in the condo looked as it should, the dishes and food put away, and the living room straightened up, so I made my way outside.

  When I stepped out into the warm mid-morning air, I took in a deep breath, letting my senses stretch themselves out. I could feel the presence of every being within a two-block radius, their magic wrapping around them like an aura.

  My muscles relaxed, and I enjoyed the feeling as I made my way to BMS, slowly pulling myself back together again. Magic, while feeling natural, was like stretching out a muscle. I always felt the best when I let it out, stretching it to its limit, but then not to alert anyone or piss anyone off, I would have to curl back into myself, holding it all in as it pressed up against me, demanding to be released.

  Beings really didn’t like when they felt other magic rubbing against them. It was impolite and made them go on the offense, ready to attack anyone within sight who might possibly be doing it.

  I’d once had it explained to me that it was on par with walking up to a man and grabbing his junk. A type of assault.

  So I had to do it sparingly and when there weren’t many people around. Mainly only humans were up and about, and they didn’t have the ability to feel magic like other beings could. At most, the hairs on their arms and back of their neck would stand up.

  The park I had to get through was a fifteen-minute walk with my job on the other side. I kept to myself as I turned onto the path, noting those already out and about for a Saturday—mostly families letting their tiny ones free to wreak havoc over the playground.

  I always enjoyed walking by and seeing how lively the playground was. How families seemed to be so normal. I could pretend, just for a moment, this was the norm. That happiness was a forever kind of deal.

  As a foster kid, I never had what they had. I never got to freely run around a playground with a mommy or a daddy, or have them watch over me while I tried to climb the monkey bars, or chase me around as I ran with a giggle fit. I never came close to having any of that.

  My life as a child was full of rejections and bullying. Kids saw me and knew I was different, knew I was more powerful than they were and avoided me, and those who didn’t, bullied me. Parents feared me and what I was capable of doing. The moment I slipped up, they returned me, as if I were something defective they’d bought at the store. And as a kid, not knowing much about magic and not really having anyone to teach me, I messed up a lot.

  The longest I lasted with a family was five months when I was ten. The shortest was one day. So when I saw a family being a family, I couldn’t help but be curious.

  I smiled as a little girl screeched in laughter and fear—in a way that only kids could —as a man pretended to be a monster hiding underneath the slide. He would pop out to grab her and she would try to climb up the slide to avoid him. Pure innocence.

  After I made it past the playground, the rest of the walk was quiet. Joggers kept a steady rhythm as they passed. Bikers zipped by without sparing a thought about hitting someone. Walkers chatted non-stop as they power walked on the path, arms swinging.

  I smiled and stayed polite, acknowledging anyone who acknowledged me.

  I was two blocks away from BMS and exiting the park area when I heard a scream that was quickly cut off.

  I turned my head to the sound, a warning crawling through my body. My feet acted on their own as I turned and walked through an alley between a closed restaurant and a bakery. The end of the alley opened into a small parking lot, big enough to fit five or so cars. In it, sat an old car and a new truck. I scanned for signs of life. A small shuffle and a moan caught my attention. Walking around the Toyota Tacoma, I froze.

  Standing there was a massive man—nearly seven feet, buff, with angry dark eyes. He stood over a slumped woman, her eyes closed, chest moving. My magic told me she was still alive, just knocked out.

  The man held a purse and dug through it, his muscles rippling underneath his t-shirt.

  He wasn’t human. Not even close. By his wide stature and the cracks in his skin, he was definitely a golem. A mud man created with magic. Mages who specialized in earth were usually the ones to make them. Normally, they were created as extra protection or as a servant, since they lived for their master’s orders. But there was no mage around, and I doubted a mage would be so obvious as to use a golem to mug a human woman in broad daylight.

  My blood ran cold at the problem before me. No mage meant no orders. No orders meant an uncontrolled golem.

  They were dangerous to be let loose in the city because they were stupid and prone to violence. He would dig what he wanted out of that purse and then kill the woman in hopes of covering it up.

  His logic didn’t make sense, but golems weren’t all that smart. Anyone would take one look at her dead body and realize it was a job of a golem. They were messy with their kills. All smash and tear.

  I couldn’t let him do that.

  I released a breath and with it, my magic, letting it stir the air around me. I’d need all the juice I could get to take him down. Golems didn’t feel pain and were crazy strong. Luckily, because of their bulky size, they moved slow. The real problem was that they held a slight immunity to magic because they were magic. They were mud and magic combined into a near thoughtless creature.

  “Step away from her,” I said, adding authority to my voice.

  The golem responded right away by turning around and snarling at me, the sound an echo of warnings our ancestors would hear as they huddled around a campfire.

  My eyes narrowed. This uncontrolled golem was a little different. I didn’t need to fear him like creatures of the past.

  He tossed the purse next to the woman, who still hadn’t moved. I needed to get him away from her. A single step would finish her off.

  I took my own step back, and he took the bait, following me, matching each step with a clumsy one of his own. How did he even sneak up on her? He wasn’t exactly quiet. When he stepped, the ground trembled with the impact, rattling a nearby garbage can.

  His size gave him a longer reach, so I couldn’t let him get close to me, but I wasn’t really sure how to subdue him either.

  I reached into my pocket and called the emergency line as the golem slowly followed me away from the unconscious woman and into the open space of the small parking lot. I didn’t have a lot of room to work with.

  “BMS, how may we help you?” a high-spirited sounding woman answered.

  “This is Dr. Laila Porter,” I said into the phone. The golem paused, cocking his head as if listening to what I had to say. I didn’t know how much he understood and the dullness in his black eyes suggested not very much. “I have an unmanned golem with me and an unconscious woman. I need back up.”

  “We have your location,” the woman said, not even sounding shocked. Her job was full of shocks every day and if a loose golem in the city surprised her, she needed to get a new job. “Help will be there in two minutes.”

  The golem let out a low grumbling noise, and I realized he’d understood her. Maybe not exactly what she said, but he understood he didn’t have long. And so, he did the opposite of what most intelligent beings would do when they knew they were running out of time.

  He attacked.

  He was faster than I expected. Calling upon the earth, I sent a quake to the golem. My attack reached him just as he flung his beefy fist. The movement of the ground jarred him, and he lost his balance as I duck
ed out of the way. His punch was close enough to feel the displacement of the warm air against my cheek. There was a loud crunching, and I turned, my mouth popping open. His fist had hit the nearby brick wall, leaving a dent twice the size of my head.

  Hell, they probably wouldn’t have been able to identify my body through facial recognition I took that hit.

  I called up the deep magic reserve within me and focused it into my hand. The concentration of magic made a light purple ball, the tingly warmth working its way up my arm. When the hue darkened, the concentration of magic thickening, I let it loose, aiming for the middle of his chest, right where a heart would have been.

  The magic smashed against him, but even against the pressure, he didn’t stumble back. It dispersed into the air, but I wasn’t done. I reached out with the remnants and in seconds had a spear. He dove toward me at the very moment I sent the spear at him.

  He slammed into me, and I swore he turned into a massive boulder as he took me to the ground. My lungs refused to expand with him on top of me, and I fought to draw in air despite the burning sensation in my chest.

  He didn’t move.

  “Laila!” someone bellowed.

  I grunted as I tried to push him off me. Why did he have to weigh so fricken’ much?

  “Shit, get it off her,” someone said, and I tried to see who was there. This was just a little embarrassing. Shadows and legs came into view as they surrounded us.

  “One. Two. Three.” Grunts filled the air, and for just a moment, I could pull in a full breath before someone swore and the weight was crushing me again. I officially knew what it felt like to be buried underneath rubble.